“Is Wikileaks wicked or hallowed?” by Nkwazi Mhango

The world media is currently awash with sensitive, sensationalized and classified information. Many ‘unknowns’ are now known. Politicians, especially from ‘civilized and developed world’ and those from ‘wicked and doomed world’, have though in different taste and manner, their dirty linens in the agora where every eye can see and tongues wag.

Many, especially, from the establishment, are vehemently condemning Wikileaks’ founder and his team. Some suggest that Julian Assange, the founder and boss of Wikileaks, should be treated as a terrorist thanks to his exposing the rot the high and mighty have been committing for long! What all protagonists don’t dispute is the truth of what is released.

US Foreign Secretary Hilary Clinton was recently admitting the dirty job ambassadors have been doing thus: “the illegal publication of classified information poses real concerns and even potential damage to our friends and partners around the world.” Who is causing this danger between the one reporting the goings-on behind the curtains and the one that commits those dangerous things for the world?

Some say: “what Wikileaks is doing is dangerous to world security.” They may be right. But again, what Wikileaks does is telling the high and mighty to do their business decently and safely for the world. Others say: “what Wikileaks is doing is honorable and decent job that aims at keeping rulers of the world honest.” Who is right and who is wrong depends on how one looks at this hidden world of politicos.

In a word, the writings are on the board that when we do dirty things, others will do clean and right thing to expose our rot. Thus, who is to blame in the first place?

Another interesting thing is the fact that the role of ambassadors has been reduced to tittle-tattling and the likes thanks to the contents of what they send back home as they report. True, thanks to the leaks, a new face of ambassadors that was not known to the world is known… they are not emissaries but legalized spies who can spy any aspect of their host countries including trivial matters such as who sleeps with the president. Refer to the voluptuous Ukrainian nurse that Libyan strong man likes to be by his side wherever he goes.

This being the fact, currently, some of us look at ambassadors as menacingly hypocritical creatures in two ways. Likewise, even some of our rulers are as hypocritical and double faced just like their emissaries. Who would think that the Saudi King would hate Iran even more than their sworn-and-made enemy Israel? Who would risk thinking that the US ambassador to Kenya would dress Raila Odinga and Mwai Kibaki down, whilst in public these are the guys he has always commended for ushering the new constitution in? Hither the problem is the fact that ambassadors report truth back home as they tell lies to their hosts in order to win them.

What is the upshot of all this? The Swahili have a saying that your arch enemy is the one that you share table with. So, all compliments our rulers hear from lip servicing lips of diplomats and use them boldly to evaluate their successes are but mere mealy-mouthed- daylight lies so to speak. Ambassadors know how corrupt and inept our rulers are. They want this be known home in order to be used to fix them though the same don’t help the Wananchi to dispose the same!

Ambassadors, in this respect, are spies as well as a burden to our budgets, thanks to spending millions just for gossiping, spying or keeping mum especially those from dependent and poor countries. Do such cabal of government machinery hell bent to spy and sting on others deserve the high place they have always enjoyed?

What Wiki-leaks has fed the world of media wolves shows that ambassadors are spies per se. Is this the reason why everything diplomatic is kept secret not to mention preference in our points of entry? We used to hear of some arrests of ambassadors and diplomats involved in some illegal dealings such as arm-dealing, smuggling in some cases and what not, but not spying and gossiping.

We heard of what diplomats from the west say and report about our rulers. What of our own counterparts? Does it mean that we differ when it comes to understanding the role of the ambassadors we dispatch to other countries or we have nothing to spy on? I am anxiously waiting to hear what our diplomats report home from Washington, Paris, London, Brussels and what not.

Looking at the tittle-tattle spying Wikileaks unearthed, Africa is more of a prey than a predator. In other simple words, Africa is taken for a ride and still, our rulers cannot underscore this!

What pains beyond comparisons is the fact that the same informers we hold high are the same creatures that laugh and rub shoulders with our high and mighty free and often so as to stab them on the back. Will our rulers come of age by looking at western ambassadors like spies instead of anything more or less in this matter?

Some bad things may have good things with them. At least our rulers that have ignored those that voted for them as they adore the donors can now see how they have always goofed. They can see how other people see them and use them. For this reason, what Wikileaks is doing is a noble job-keeping tabs on politicians.

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About asabagna

I go by the name of Asabagna Alatentou, "Asa" for short. I took this name as my African/Spiritual name when I went on a pilgrimage to West Africa in 1997. I visited Senegal, The Gambia and Ghana. "Asabagna" means "hunter" and I received that name during a naming ceremony when I visited a village in northern Ghana. "Alatentou" is Mandingo for "God is gracious" and I received that name from a village Griot in Senegal. I was born in England and my parents are of Jamaican heritage. I spent most of my formative years in Jamaica, but grew up primarily in Toronto Canada. I currently live in Ottawa, the national capital of Canada. I am professionally employed, married, 2 wonderful kids and regularly attend a Pentecostal church. I am a born-again Christian. I do not consider myself conservative or liberal, right-wing or left-wing, centrist etc., or any of the multiple categories that society likes to confine and define people by. However, I do have strong views, beliefs and opinions but I also consider myself open to listening and contemplating other viewpoints. I am a firm believer that "if you don't believe in something, you will fall for anything".

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13 thoughts on ““Is Wikileaks wicked or hallowed?” by Nkwazi Mhango”

Wikileaks did not make the US look bad; al contrario,it showed the hypocrisy and true face of many of the clients who do business with this country.
I always thought that most people already knew that the Arab/Muslim world is an entire fiefdom.There you have a people despite the trappings of modernity (cellphones, electricity,computers and indoor plumbing) are stuck in the Dark Ages, religious institutions/leaders and all.
I was not surprised with the leader of Yemen authorizing the US to drop drones over there and then saying he would just say they did it.LOl
I was also not surprised that the Saudi king is scared stiff of the idiot in Iran. Sunni/ Shia conflict is very serious.
The saddest thing that Wikileaks showed is that they(Arab/Muslim) are using the Palestinians as pawns to hide their injustices and lack of committment to move forward at home while blaming Israel for problems they have no plans to ever solve.
The truth is, if there were ever serious elections in the Muslim/Arab world, the Islamist would win in a flash and the elites would have to pack up and run to the West where most of them have their money stashed away.

Not that the Islamist are capable of solving anything either, more likely they would take their countries further back than the Middle Ages, maybe even as far as the Stone Age.
I don’t consider Julian Assange to be a hero, he is more a spoiled brat looking for attention. While under mansion arrest, sipping wine, he is planning to leak out more information.
I would like to know what is his real purpose, other than calling attention, because nothing is going to change even with folks knowing all of this.
Ambassadors are always on a twofold mission,first, diplomacy and second, to gather as much information possible. This is as old as from the days of the Queen of Sheba.
And as for African leaders, I doubt if they care” how other people see them and use them…” Only people with a conscience worry about those things.

Ana thanks for adding more flavor though it seems, if I have not misunderstood your points, you are but frustrated thanks to the way our rulers and their masters do business.
Assange might be a mere lunatic but again, what he has brought to us must be appreciated.
Information is power. This is an adage. Knowing what our thieves in power do at least will enable the opposition to easily take on them as it happened in my motherland Tanzania. After whistle blowers gave it the whole corn in the agora, the chickens used it to slash the vampire. As I am writing, many constituencies are in the hands of opposition and our vampiric ruling party is gasping for breath.
When we agitated for a new constitution we were just laughed at and our idea dismissed with just the wave of hand. Now things have changed. Tanzania may get a new constitution any soon something that used to be taken as an impossible. All this can be attributed to just a single leak of information that the opposition used wisely.

Nkwazi Mhango:
I am hoping for changes in Africa more than anyone else.This will likely come, the result of workers,students, women and farmers getting more involved politically on the local and national levels from villages,towns and cities.
I still see a vast decimation of the African population , somethig that could have been avoided, but still, I have faith in various African nations getting there soon.
I have no faith in the Arab/Muslim world, violence is going to escalate there, those areas will become ungovernable and therefore warzones with refugees spilling out in large numbers.
I will disagree with you regarding Mr. Assange. This man is not the same as a whistle blower in a company or political institution. Mr. Assange is a troublemaker and individuals of his ilk cannot be trusted.

Ana
Thanks again. Regarding whether Mr. Assange is a troublemaker or liberator vis a vis freedom of information, all depends on how one looks at him.
Regarding your hope that one day Africa will make it, I concur with you fully save that it will take a long time till China claims the title of superpower. This needs a lot of analysis so to speak. For when one mentions China as a super power in waiting many laugh at him or her.
Regarding Arab-cum Muslim countries, you are dead right. Look at the Sudan. Thanks to mental abuse and manipulation, our black sisters and brother in Sudan believe they are Arab. I have a friend from Darfur who once asked me about Africa I come from meaning Darfur is not in Africa. This is the mentality of Egyptians, Libyans, Tunisians, Algerians, Moroccans, Mauritanians, Nigerien and others.

When it comes to other South Saharan countries with big population of Muslims, Muslims would like to be ruled under sharia as it once happened in Nigeria. Refer to killings that resulted thereof.

I say let a thousand leaks pour forth. The revelation that Pfizer did drug test trials on children in Nigeria without parental permission is shocking. The further revelation that Pfizer informed the US embassy in Nigeria of its intention to blackmail the Nigerian Attorney General in an effort to disuade him from pursuing Pfizer for its malfeasance is is mindblowing. The fact that no where in the cable does the US government condemn Pfizer is par for the course.

I agree that according to WikiLeaks, besides being emissaries, ambassadors have the role of spy. However, African rulers are predators, the difference is that the pray always knew it but kept quiet.
The leaks are not dangerous to world security but it is an embarrassment when open secrets become officials. It will make “diplomacy” more difficult.
I want to see more WikiLeaks from whomever; China vs US, France vs Ivory coats, South Africa vs Zimbabwe, China vs Russia, Northern Sudan vs Southern Sudan, Uganda vs Kenya etc.
The world needs to acknowledge what the mass rightly assume and WikiLeaks is changing for ever the face of diplomacy. I do not know what are his motives but I thanks Julian Assange.

I think what has annoyed me the most of this Wikileaks fiasco is the fact that Assange has been painted as some sort of hero. Yes there is some good in what Wikileaks is trying to do but is he a hero… and what about the women who have made allegations – do they get brushed under the carpet?

It seems necessary to separate Assange from Wikileaks. The “ruling class” would love to equate the information that WL released with “Assange/the RAPIST.” Thus, one would tend to negate the other.

They want you to focus on the one man, the personality, his hair, the sexual libertine, or the sex criminal. Is WL more than one man? If he is a supreme egotist, showman – does that negate the truth of what was leaked.

Don’t know if he did or did not rape the women in Sweden. Hopefully, the case is being examined on its merits and not on Assange’s politics. Hopefully, this isn’t another black bag job, whereby somebody set homeboy using his psych profile to scientifically get him to self destruct. Make no mistake: homeboy fucked up.

But really, that’s the sideshow. They want you to get caught up in the cult of Assange – positive or negative. “He’s a martyr; no, he’s a selfish beast.”

What’s really key is that the dirt being done is transnational and the perpetrators have not allegiance – but to the almighty dollar.

The US government does the bidding of the people who own IT. The Russians, the Saudis, the Chinese, the various and sundry African nations are owned by the same kind financial behemoths.

I chuckled when one of the earlier discussions on the ‘Spear devolved into “the US is the greatest purveyor of violence” versus the “Russians/the Chinese” are the real bad asses. They are ALL doing the SAME thing for a cabal of billionaires.

The only debate is scale…not who the masters of this global disaster are.

I found that the perspective of this article in regards to the exposure of the role of ambassadors via Wikileaks interesting.

I am encouraged, as I read many articles on Assange and Wikileaks throughout the afrosphere, that the overwhelming majority are questioning his motives, basicly see him as a media hound and the leaks not only provide nothing truly revealing, but more importantly, will lead to no real change. Those who buy into the status quo will see him as either a hero or the devil incarnate, and while they argue among themselves, Wikileaks provides cover for the cabal of billionaires to continue to make their zillions. This is what makes me chuckle.

@Aulelia… welcome back little sister and congratulations on achieving your masters degree! I know it was a difficult journey for you, as well as the struggles, trials and tribulations you had to overcome in the last year. Your achievement is inspiring. I am proud of you.

Those who believe that the only thing wrong with the status quo is the existence of its critics are bound to get tripped up on irrelevant issues. Whether Assange is an other wise horrible guy is not the key question with regards to the Wikkileaks.

The key questions should be:

1) How accurate and true is the released information.
The information reflects the conversations and thinking of lower level embassy officials. Some of it is purely opinion. Most of it reflects the official propaganda line from Washington.

2) What do the leaks reveal about US political hypocrisy?
The leaks are really only interesting when they reveal a contradiction between what is officially stated and what even lower level functionairies knew to be true.

3) What do the leaks reveal about US policy towards nations of Africa and the Carribean?
I have posted an example but surely there are others.

The only debate is scale…not who the masters of this global disaster are.

Chinese billionaires could arguably be the owners of China, Russian billionaires could arguably be the owners of Russia. But America’s cabal of billionaires make the rules and set the agenda for all who buy and sell in the World Economic System. The American State with all of its weaponry is available to the American Cabal of billionaires to an extent that the others can only have wet dreams about